I don't think I knew anything about Robert and Elizabeth until I read Kurt Ganzl's Musical Theatre on Record. In the chapter Thirty Years of British Musicals, 1950--1980, he includes the two cast recordings of Robert and Elizabeth in his list My Ten Essential Records.
Shortly thereafter in 1993 when EMI West End Angel released the OLC album CD with John Clements, June Bronhill, and Keith Michell, I bought the recording and fell in love with the score. Some years later I purchased the 1987 Chichester revival recording, which has a little more of the score including Edward Barrett's "What the World Calls Love".
The liner notes for the original '64 recording state, "Although often mentioned for Broadway, it has yet to be seen on the Great White Way. It did get fairly close however, when in 1982 it played at the Paper Mill Playhouse in New Jersey." The notes also mention "an intriguing 'from an original idea by' credit to the American composer and lyricist Fred C. Morritt. He had written an adaptation which he had not been able to get produced in the States."
BTW there actually was a somewhat high profile American production of Robert and Elizabeth prior to the Paper Mill one. In 1975 the Candlelight Forum Theatre in Chicago, Illinois staged an equity production of the musical. The veteran local actress Iris Lieberman won the Joseph Jefferson Award for her performance in it. |
